


How (not) To Deal With Palladium Poisoning

by blooming_flowercrownss



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Iron Man 2 - Fandom
Genre: Dealing with poison, Gen, Just a quick angstyish one shot, Palladium Poisoning, People don't think of that enough imo?, Three AM Writing, Tony Stark has gone through so much, Tony Stark-centric, how I think tony would deal with his palladium poisoning, just me getting my daily dosage of Tony Angst tbh, might elaborate eventually on this fic. just not tonight, most of it probably didn't happen in cannon, short but somewhat angsty, symptoms of palladium poisons described
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-14 19:13:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11789640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blooming_flowercrownss/pseuds/blooming_flowercrownss
Summary: When someone's dying, they experience withdrawal. In preparing to disconnect from the world, a person who is dying may want few people around or simply to be left alone much of the time. This is not a rejection of the loving family and friends who wish to be close to the person at this time.When someone's dying, some may be oddly nostalgic. Others may feel the need to forget and disconnect (see above) for they don't want to remember the good times out of fear they will never experience them again.When someone's dying, their personality may change, or the 'worst' aspects may come to light. Sometimes before someone dies, the best parts of their character shine.When Tony figures out he's dying, what does he do?





	How (not) To Deal With Palladium Poisoning

When Tony figured out his problem, it was under less than ideal circumstances.

 

He was sitting in the lab, working on one of his most recent projects and he nicked his finger. He cursed under his breath as the blood dripped onto the floor.

  
"Sir, something seems to be... Off about your blood. I recommend testing it immediately." Jarvis appeared to sound worried. Well, as worried as an AI could possibly sound, so Tony obliged.

Once he saw the results, his heart dropped.

The reactor, the core made of palladium.  
It was poisoning him.  
The thing keeping him alive was also killing him.

" **Well. This fucking sucks.** "

He did all the research he could possibly do, but somehow not many people even knew of palladium poisoning.  
(Because apparently only large amounts of palladium for sustained periods of time, is dangerous. And not many people had a core made of it sitting in their chests.)

Tony began to drink chlorophyll smoothies, they helped contradict the effects of the poison.

_(Didn't contradict the pain though.)_

One thing people also forget about being poisoned,  
_it fucking sucks_.  
He was dizzy, he experienced ringing in his ears and blurry vision.  
Tony also realized that the cores burned out fast. Prolonged usage of the suits quickened the effects of the Palladium poisoning and quickened the process of frying the core.   
He had to replace fried core, after fried core, after fried core.  
It was like continuously poisoning yourself to keep yourself alive.

Yeah, it _fucking_ sucked.

One night Tony was chugging down one of his disgusting smoothies, although this one was pumped with chlorophyll. He leaned against the wall, waiting for his dizziness to pass. He opted to hum a soft tune until the ringing in his ears subsided as he stared out the window. Looking out at his city, the one he might never see again. 

This was a pretty regular thing really, distract yourself from the symptoms because then they aren't really there.

 

 

He began to give things away, he wouldn't need them where he was going anyway.

He gave the company to Pepper ( ~~She made it so difficult too~~ )

He gave one of his suits to Rhodey ( ~~Under less than ideal circumstances~~ ) 

He made sure he would leave a legacy behind, so he decided to host Stark Expo ( ~~one last time~~ ). 

But he never told anyone. Never uttered a word about his poison. 

( ~~"Are you okay, Tony?" "Always."~~ )

 

After about a week, he began seeing black marks spread from the reactor. They looked like a 'high-tech crossword puzzle' according to Rhodey when he accidentally found out. 

The lines started around the reactor, and they began to stretch across his chest, then onto his arms and creeping up his neck. 

( ~~Tony thought they kind of complimented all the scars he had accumulated over the years~~ )

 He planned to make it seem like he died on a cruise. 

(He thought the blame would be less that way, but deep down he knew he would still be blamed for his own death.) 

Of course, things got worse progressively. 

He experienced nausea, increased fatigue, the dizziness only worsened, along with the blurry vision and his ears that rung like bells. He got migraines, and those dark lines continued to etch themselves over his skin. His heart rate would rise after only speed walking to the kitchen, making Tony feel like he ran a marathon ( ~~or twenty~~ ).

He got nightmares more frequently, ( ~~although he didn't think that was caused by the palladium.~~ ) his sleep schedule would further wreck itself, going from sleeping 12 hours to not sleeping for days. He would wake in pools of his own sweat, even if he didn't feel a significant temperature change. 

 

He'd fall asleep, not expecting to wake up.

( ~~And when he did, it was almost a disappointment.~~ ) 

 

 


End file.
